If you've been following your celebrity feuds, you know there was tension between Brown and Ocean in 2011 thanks to an argument on Twitter. But with Brown's history of violent behavior and the examples of questionable decision-making in recent years, the presumption by some is that the "Don't Wake Me Up" singer is the guilty party in the standoff.

As with controversial celebrities before him, at the core of the reaction to Brown are those age-old questions: What are our behavior standards for our celebrities, who sets them, and can they be enforced? If someone does something heinous, should we cease to find them entertaining? And just how much should a star's personal life override his or her work?

The answers to those questions are debatable and shift with the times, but they're also made all the more charged by the context of Brown's case.

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Brown, Ocean fight over parking space?

CNN hasn't heard back from either Brown or Ocean for more clarification on what transpired in the 7200 block of Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California, but authorities have confirmed that it was a physical throwdown involving six men. As deputies work to get to the bottom of what occurred, they've said that Brown is under investigation for allegedly punching an unnamed victim -- and over a parking space, no less.

Yet the frequent feuds are just the beginning of Brown's tenuous public image. Equally damaging has been his defensive attitude, a brash, short-sighted bravado that he'll sometimes temper with notes of aspirational positivity. The highlight reel of 2012 alone gives enough examples:

The month prior to that the controversy was a tattoo of a "sugar skull" on his neck, one that made enough people think of a post-assault Rihanna that his rep had to clarify that the ink wasn't of the pop star. In December, he again rankled onlookers by sharing a photo of himself in Amsterdam smoking enough "medicinal marijuana" for three people, which he later apologized for. (Perhaps realizing the pot-stirring effect his social media posts have, Brown pulled away from Instagram on Tuesday with the post: "Social media takes away the essence of why we are even special or icons. So with that, I'm detaching myself from that world.")

As a result, any conversation that remotely mentions the 23-year-old star tends to push observers into two camps.

There are the defending supporters, who accuse Brown's critics of being self-righteous and coldly disbelieving in an individual's power to change.

And then there are the affronted, who see his defenders as dismissive of Brown's influence and unwilling to hold the singer accountable for his actions -- not to mention turning a blind eye to the gravity of domestic violence.

The media aren't above taking sides. Marlow Stern of The Daily Beast offered a "preponderance of evidence" that Brown is "one of the most infuriatingly awful people in show business." Gawker posited that "it's not hard to choose between those two versions" in the Ocean/Brown fracas, because in one corner you have "a violent, angry, abusive a**hole," and in the other, a singer who "has never been accused of assault and isn't known for hitting people."

Influential supporters like Justin Bieber -- who recently told Billboard magazine that he's pulling for the R&B/hip-hop singer on Grammy night -- chime in, reminding consumers that it's about a product, not a personality. "I'm a fan," Bieber said of Brown. "His music is really good. That's what they should focus on: the music."

Along the way, he's developed a strong fan base -- sometimes referred to as Team Breezy -- that's been consistent in his corner even as we've watched that careful artist package come apart at the seams. One thing that's held his ship upright in waves of backlash, said Yahoo! Music senior editor Billy Johnson Jr., has been his music.

"It does help when you have really good products in the marketplace, because I think at the end of the day that will supersede everything," Johnson said. "You're trying to repair a damaged image, one way to shift the focus is to put out good music."

That same record also earned Brown a best R&B album Grammy the following February, and his 2012 album, "Fortune," was another No. 1 and is nominated in the best urban contemporary category at the 2013 ceremony.

Brown is far from the first to whip us into a backbiting frenzy over where we, culturally, can and/or should draw our lines, and it's seriously unlikely he'll be the last. Charlie Sheen is one of the most notorious examples, and while he's a touchy subject when it comes to public acceptance, he's nonetheless been successful in terms of output.

In Brown's case, he's similarly continued to press forward with his music and acting career. Prior to making his Instagram account private, he posted that he's at work on a new album, showing once again that what happens for a star personally doesn't always interrupt what occurs professionally, even while we continue to hash out whether it should.